Use of the Attainable Region Analysis to Reduce Experimental Time to Determine Major Trends and Optimize Particle Breakage in a Ball Mill

Particle size reduction is a process carried out either on dry materials or slurries where a material is gradually reduced in size to produce material of the desired size class. It is an energy intensive process concerned with the relationship between energy input and the particle size made from the given feed size. It is of paramount importance to mill to the right size while minimising the energy costs. The optimal conditions are determined through studying the material to be milled in a laboratory mill under standard conditions.The (AR) analysis tool is used to optimise the comminution of gold ore milled. Values of slurry viscocity and grinding media size are varied. Preliminary results show that it is possible to minimise experimental time to get optimal grinding time for given grinding media ( J= volume of media/mill volume). Results also show that the the power drawn varies with slurry concerntation.